Biochemical analysis of vitreous humor and synovial fluid in the estimation of early postmortem interval: A meta-analytical approach.

The estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is a significant challenge in legal medicine and forensic sciences due to the dynamic and continuous decomposition of organisms after death. Thanatochemistry has emerged as a promising area to estimate PMI by measuring the concentrations of postmortem biochemical markers. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarize evidence on postmortem biochemical alterations in vitreous humor (VH) and synovial fluid (SF) to estimate early PMI.

Differences in volume, density, electrolyte concentration, and total proteins in the fluid of the paranasal sinuses of freshwater and saltwater drowning victims: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This study summarized the available evidence on the differences in volume, density, electrolyte concentration, and total proteins in paranasal sinus fluid between freshwater and saltwater drowning victims. A systematic search was conducted in electronic databases and gray literature, resulting in the inclusion of five studies with 234 drowning victims (92 saltwater incidents and 142 freshwater incidents). Meta-analyses using the inverse-of-variance method and a random-effects model were performed, reporting effect sizes as standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

The role of paranasal sinus fluid in determining drowning as the cause of death: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Drowning is a significant global cause of unintentional injury fatalities, and accurate forensic diagnosis of drowning remains a challenge due to the nonspecific nature of post-mortem findings obtained through classical autopsy methods. Our manuscript addresses this issue by focusing on the emerging use of paranasal sinus fluid as a valuable tool in determining the cause of death, specifically in distinguishing drowning from non-drowning cases. The study provided a comprehensive summary of available evidence from observational studies that compared findings in the paranasal sinuses between drowning and non-drowning victims, analyzing parameters such as the presence of fluid, fluid volume, and density.